Small businesses aren’t listening to the recession talk as of late – they’re continuing to invest, grow and hire at historically high levels There’s been a lot of talk of recession lately but small businesses, for the most part, don’t seem to be listening. That’s the conclusion from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). The business group’s most recent

A fund that invests in European companies - but excludes those listed in the UK - has some resonance in the current political climate, especially as the 'B word' has frightened off serious numbers of investors from touching the British stock market in recent months.

The company, soon to update on trading, has ambitions to shift from low-margin grocery sales to being a technology platformJanuary will mark 20 years since three former Goldman Sachs bankers with no experience of food retailing hatched a plan for an online grocer. The company started off as Last Mile Solutions and soon changed its name to Ocado. The rest is history – but a bumpy one. Ocado has fallen in and out of favour since its flotation in 2010 as investors have waited for Tim Steiner, its chief executive and the last of the trio remaining, to make good on his pledge to revolutionise food shopping.

One family plans to sell their home to pay, and others are fighting off debt collectors in the wake of a corporate IT failureCo-op Energy describes itself as a “company with a heart” that makes a “real difference in our communities”. It has certainly made a difference to Clive Barber. He and his family are preparing to sell their house to pay a £12,600 electricity bill that arrived out of the blue. It has also made a difference to Kel Harvey and his wife, who are being pursued by a debt collection agency for unexpected arrears totalling £3,700. And to Thomas Wells, who has been paying £100 a month to clear a sudden debt of over £2,000, despite switching to another supplier in 2016.

Energy network companies are under scrutiny after last month’s outage, the worst of its kind in a decadeThere is never a good time for a blackout, but for Britain’s energy companies the timing of last month’s power failure could scarcely have been worse. The best that the owners of the UK’s energy pipes and wires can expect in the coming years is a tighter squeeze on their deflated profits by the industry regulator. A Labour government could support nationalisation. In the meantime, investors are turning their backs on energy network companies.

Retirement benefits are indeed declining, and funds are in deficit. But those on zero-hour jobs at universities have it worse Britain’s university sector is a jewel in the nation’s crown. It is a world leader in research, generates £20bn in export revenues and is credited with playing a big part in raising the productivity of the UK’s workforce during a period of rapid expansion in the 1990s and 2000s. So successful have universities been in attracting students – even in the teeth of a huge rise in course fees – that they have managed to paper over deep cracks in their finances.

Mike Ashley’s future son-in-law and head of elevation, Michael Murray, is busy reimagining the retail empire Men in sharp suits mix with models as Vogue editor Edward Enniful and fashion influencers sip champagne and Salty Dog cocktails while they peruse £525-a-pair bejewelled Jimmy Choo trainers at a glossy store on London’s Oxford Street. This is Flannels, the achingly expensive designer emporium which Mike Ashley, the founder and chief executive of Sports Direct, views as the future of his retail empire.

They turn savings into an income for life – but demand has fallen sharply This week pension annuities collapsed to an all-time low. So are they now a pointless purchase? It is a product that turns your pension savings into an income for life, but demand has fallen off a cliff since the government

Services from Apple, Britbox, HBO and Disney launch soon – but to get them all would cost £1,450 a year Television viewers who want to watch a range of sport and popular shows, including Premier League and Champion’s League football, dramas such as The Crown, Line of Duty and Chernobyl, archive shows such as Gavin and Stacey and new content based on the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, face having to pay more than £120 a month by this time next year. The global streaming phenomenon, that so far has been all about

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